The Moment You've Been Waiting For
by Deliwiel
Summary: While coming back from assignment, MacGyver, Jack and Riley disappear. Who is behind it, and what do they want? Rated T overall just to be safe. *Sequel to Left Behind, Not Forgotten*
1. Chapter 1

_**So I finally decided to post the first chapter to one of the many stories I've been working on...I think it's readable? I don't even want to tell you guys how often I changed plot lines, only to come back to this one... Read and lemme know what you think?**_

Patricia Thornton was sitting at her desk, typing up a report on her computer when her phone rang. "Thornton," she answered, almost absentmindedly. As she listened to the other end of the phone call, she sat forward in her chair. Her attention was now entirely focused on what was being said. She stood up, her eyes grew wide and her face drained of color. "I understand. Thank you."

She hung up the phone call and immediately dialed another number. "Come on, Mac. Pick up!" The phone continued to ring and ring for almost thirty seconds.

 _"Hey, you've reached MacGyver. Lea-"_ She hung up the phone before the answering machine could finish it's message. Taking in a deep breath, she locked her phone and set it down on the table, otherwise she knew she was going to throw it.

One of the agents opened her door. "Is everything alright, ma'am?" he asked. She looked up at him.

"Get me the location of the plane MacGyver, Jack and Riley are on," she ordered. The agent nodded and immediately went off to collect the requested information while Patricia sat back down and opened up a file on her computer, shaking her head in disbelief. "Come on guys," she muttered as she continued to stare at the screen. She was hoping and praying that the situation wasn't what she thought it was.

Her gut, however, told her otherwise.

 _0-0-0_

 _Two Hours Earlier_

"Come on, admit it!" Riley crowed as they walked towards the small plane that was going to take them back to California. "I kicked butt back there!"

Jack looked at the young woman, amusement in his eyes. After a moment, he finally nodded his head. "Alright, yes. I'll admit it, you did well," he confessed. Riley threw her fist in the air in victory as soon as those words left Jack's mouth.

"Totally saved your both of your butts!" she said triumphantly.

"Which I am thankful for," Jack replied. "I quite like my butt; it's one of my best features!"

"Man, if it's one of your best features," Mac quipped. "I would hate to see what one of your bad features looks like!" He and Riley laughed and fist-bumped while Jack made a face at his younger friends.

"Ha, ha. Very funny, Mac," he drawled. "Look at me, I'm laughing so hard!"

MacGyver gave his older partner a dorky grin as they made their way onto the plane. They each settled down in a seat and waited patiently for the plane to take off.

 _0-0-0_

They were about an hour and a half into their flight when Mac stood up. "I'll be back," he said. Jack acknowledged his comment with a nod, not looking up from the magazine he was reading. Riley glanced up from her computer screen.

"Everything okay?" she asked. Mac nodded.

"Yeah, just need to stretch my legs and use the bathroom," Mac explained. Riley nodded and went back to whatever it was she was doing on her computer.

As MacGyver was washing his hands, he felt the plane dip a little. " _Well that's weird,"_ he thought to himself. " _We can't be landing already; we're still two hours away at least …"_ He dried his hands, wondering if they were having some sort of mechanical trouble. He opened the door and walked out, stumbling a little as the plane tilted to one side.

He walked towards his friends, but paused as he saw the pilot leaning over them. "Hey," he called out. "What's going on? Why is the plane landing?"

The pilot turned around, and MacGyver was shocked to see that it wasn't the man he was expecting. "Who are you? Where's Aaron?" he asked in a hard voice. He glanced at his friends, noticing their unusual stillness. He looked back just in time to see the pilot slipping what looked like a syringe into his inner pocket. "What did you do to Jack and Riley?" he asked in an accusatory tone as he walked forward.

The pilot didn't reply. He simply stood there and watched as Mac advanced down the aisle towards him. "What is going on?" MacGyver demanded. Still the pilot remained silent. Mac was extremely confused about what was going on. Suddenly the hair on the back of his neck stood up, and his instincts told him to duck, but he was too slow.

A strap was flung around his neck, and he was yanked back against a hard, solid wall of human flesh, pinning him there. He grunted as what he realized what was a seat belt from the airplane seat was tightened even more. His fingers scrabbled at the ligature around his neck, gasping for breath. He tried jabbing his elbow back into the gut of the man holding him, but his attacker simply tightened the restraint even more. Mac's vision started tunneling in, and his struggling became less and less.

"Who...are you?" he gasped out as his legs started to give out from underneath him. The man holding Mac lowered him to the floor, but kept the seatbelt around his neck. Just before he lost consciousness, Mac heard the men talking to each other in Spanish. He tried to figure out what it meant, but his oxygen-deprived brain refused to work, and he finally gave into the darkness vying for his undivided attention.

 _ **Sorry it's a little short...**_

 _ **Let me know what you think? Too cheesy? Too dramatic? Odd? Any ideas as to what's gonna happen next?**_


	2. Chapter 2

_**So this chapter is a little longer! :D**_

 _ **Thank you to everyone who has favorited, followed, and/or reviewed! You're fabulous :)**_

 _ **I don't think I said it last chapter, but unfortunately I still own nothing :/**_

"Do we have _anything_?" Patricia asked, trying to hide the stress and frustration in her voice as she leaned over one of the agent's shoulders, staring at his computer screen as if by her gaze alone she would be able to intimidate the inanimate object into telling her where her team was.

"Not yet, ma'am," the man at the computer replied. "The last location we have for the plane, as well as the last pings we got from MacGyver, Jack or Riley's cell phones was passing just over Texas," he explained.

"Where in Texas?" Thornton asked with urgency in her voice.

The agent glanced back at his computer. "Uh, just over Huntsville," he replied. Before Thornton could reply, another agent hurried into the office.

"Sorry for the interruption, ma'am," she began. "But I thought you'd like to know. There was a plane found deserted in a field fifty miles north of Huntsville," she explained.

"That's around the area of the prison..." Thornton trailed off as she muttered, mostly to herself. "Search everywhere you can, find me anything that looks like it's out of place," she instructed as she straightened up. "Get ahold of any security tapes you can for any of the surrounding areas, see if you can find any trace of them. Let me know as soon as you find anything."

"Yes ma'am," the agent at the computer replied as he immediately began typing away. The agent who had informed her that they had found the plane hurried back out of the office, talking rapidly with someone on the phone about getting access to any and all CCTV cams. Patricia stared at the computer screen in front of her, not really seeing anything as she zoned out, trying to think of anything she could do to get her agents back.

 _0-0-0_

MacGyver drifted in and out of consciousness; whenever he woke up slightly, he felt the floor bouncing around underneath him before he would drop back into the realm of unawareness. Finally, reality came back to him full force, and he slowly opened his eyes. He glanced around and saw Jack and Riley on the ground next to him, passed out. He once again felt the ground shaking underneath him and he as he looked around and saw the paneled walls he realized they were in a van, being driven to some unknown destination.

"Hey, el chico está despierto," he heard from above him. He tried to turn his head to catch a glimpse of the speaker, but a boot was placed on his arm, keeping him in place. Realizing he wasn't going anywhere, he decided to take a moment to assess what was going on. He tried moving, but when he couldn't move his arms he realized that his hands were bound behind his back

" _Well this is a fine mess you've gotten yourself into, Mac,"_ he thought to himself. He tried moving his legs and found that they were tied together as well, it felt like both at the ankles and his knees.

Suddenly the foot was lifted off his arm and shoved into his back, making him groan and roll over to stare at his captors.

"What is going on?" he asked, slightly surprised at how scratchy his voice sounded. The men ignored his question. They simply continued to stare at him with an evil sort of happy look in their eyes, which made MacGyver more than a little uncomfortable.

Off to the side, Jack groaned. MacGyver looked towards his friend. "Jack?" he rasped. He twisted and turned, and finally was staring at Jack head on. The older man groaned again, then finally looked up.

"Mac?" he asked groggily.

"Cállate!" one of the men ordered harshly, delivering a kick to Jack's midsection before MacGyver could respond. Jack wheezed and coughed, spitting out curses as he curled in on himself. Mac noticed that Jack's hands and feet were tied as well. Riley began stirring too, but just as she was opening her eyes and looking around in bleary confusion, the van lurched to a stop. The three captives skidded along the floor of the van, coming to a halt just in front of the back doors.

The doors were flung open and light poured into the van, making the three prisoners wince and squint as their eyes tried to adjust to the light. MacGyver felt hands roughly grabbing his biceps and he was dragged out of the van. As soon as his feet hit solid ground, he instinctively took a step to try and maintain his balance, but he had forgotten that his legs were bound as well.

He twisted himself as he felt himself falling, trying to avoid smacking his face into the ground. He grunted as his weight fell onto his arm, but he decided he would rather have it be his arm than his nose. He looked up and his stomach sank as he saw that they were surrounded by at least a dozen or more men, each heavily armed.

He heard two other thuds behind him and he knew Jack and Riley had been pulled from the van as well. "Mac?" he heard Jack ask again. "What is going on?"

"I have an idea, but I _really_ hope I'm wrong," MacGyver replied quietly. They were hauled back to their feet as an order was barked out in Spanish. Someone knelt down by Mac as others walked over to Jack and Riley.

"Try anything," hissed one of the men holding his arms. "And your friends pay for it."

MacGyver looked over at his friends, seeing men come up behind them and put guns to their heads. "You wouldn't have gone through all this effort just to kill us," he pointed out boldly.

"But all we really need is you and _one_ of your friends," the man shot back. "And my vote would be we keep the _bella dama,_ " he said, his cold eyes darting over Riley lustfully. Mac's eyes narrowed in hatred as he stared at the man in front of him.

"Don't touch them," Mac growled.

"Cooperate, and you won't have to make us choose," the man responded harshly. "Do you understand?"

Mac's eyes hardened, but he nodded his head in understanding. He felt the ropes being cut away from his knees and ankles, but they left his hands tied behind his back.

"Same goes for you two," another voice said. Mac glanced over to his friends once more and saw them looking at him, then he felt a cold, oily piece of metal placed against the side of his temple. His friends nodded, and the ties around their legs were cut as well.

"Move," ordered one of the men harshly as soon as all of their legs were untied. MacGyver was shoved forcefully from behind, making him stumble a bit before he got his balance back. He looked ahead of them and saw a large building, surrounded by fences at least eight feet high and topped off with barbed wire. He was shoved again and he turned around in annoyance.

"Look, I'm going as fast as this guy in front of me will allow, so you need to talk to him about it if you want me to move faster than I already am!" he griped.

He was expecting it, but that didn't mean the punch to his cheek hurt any less. "Keep moving," growled the guard behind him. "Don't speak unless given permission!" When MacGyver remained silent, the man slapped him upside the back of the head. "Do you understand?!"

"Oh I'm sorry, was that empty silence supposed to be permission for me to speak?" MacGyver snarked. He received another slap to the back of his head, making him hiss quietly, more in annoyance than anything as he turned around and continued walking.

A large door was opened as they approached, and the three prisoners were forced into the middle of large room. The walls were covered in old, rusty pipes, there were a few chairs pushed into one corner, and on one of the walls there was a large TV. He took note of some old trash cans by the chairs, and some wooden crates pushed against the wall opposite them.

As MacGyver was glancing around, another shove had him once again stumbling a little, but thankfully a large hand on his arm prevented him from falling. He shot another annoyed look at the man who had constantly been pushing him before his attention was drawn to the far side of the room, where another door had just been opened. Three men walked through the door first. They each carried a large automatic weapon, making them look extremely menacing, but it was the fourth man who walked in that made Mac's stomach drop to the pit of his stomach. The smug grin, the leisurely saunter, the still-mostly-for-decoration-cane; it all morphed into one human MacGyver hoped never to see again.

"Ramirez."

 _ **Eheheh... So? Thoughts? A couple of you called it! Haha now if you are reading this and have no idea who Ramirez is, now would be a good time to go read "Left Behind, Not Forgotten." Otherwise, I'm not sure how much sense this story will make... ;)**_

 _ **I'm not sure if they're OOC or not? That was part of the reason I was having such a hard time with the story. What do you guys think?**_

 _ **Hey, el chico está despierto-Hey, the kid is awake-google translate**_

 _ **Cállate-Shut up-google translate**_

 _ **bella dama-Pretty lady-google translate**_


	3. Chapter 3

_**Hey hey hey :) Here's chapter three of the sequel to Left Behind, Not Forgotten!**_

 _ **Thank you all for the kind words! I hope you all had a great, safe New Years Eve, and I hope you all have a very good 2017!**_

 _ **Sadly, not mine.**_

"What do you mean I can't go in there?" Thornton almost yelled at the officer on the other end of the phone call.

" _Ma'am, that area is what we call a black zone. Local drug cartels run that side of town, and word is there's a bigger player in the area now, so our superiors have instructed us not to get in the way of them or go near them; it would only end in tragedy for anyone who tried,"_ the police officer replied.

Thornton ground her teeth in anger. Her agents had informed her that they had been able to track Ramirez to a compound in Mexico, but they needed permission to come into the country on official United States business, but no one was giving Thornton permission.

"Officer Torres, is it?" she asked. After he confirmed that that was his name, she continued. "You have to understand," she said. Her voice was patient, but you could tell that her patience was wearing thin. "That is my team in there," she told the man on the other end. "I can't just sit by and not do anything to try and get them back!"

" _Ma'am, I'm very sorry,"_ Torres said. " _I'm afraid I just can't give you permission to come in and go after the compound."_ Thornton put her hand to her forehead and closed her eyes, breathing in deeply and trying to keep calm. " _At least,"_ Torres's voice came back on the line. " _I can't give you permission to come as a formal organization. I also can't promise you the help of any law enforcement, but sometimes tourists take wrong turns and end up somewhere they aren't supposed to be…"_ He trailed off, but Thornton got his message loud and clear. She wasn't able to come as a Phoenix agent, and she wouldn't have the help of local police, but if she could find a way onto the compound she could do what she needed to.

"I understand," she replied, relief flooding her voice. "Thank you for your help." She hung up the phone and turned to the few agents in the room with her. "Wheels up in 10; let's go get our guys back."

 _0-0-0_

"Mr. MacGyver," Ramirez drawled as he walked forward. The men holding Mac tightened their grip as the captive started to struggle slightly. One man took his huge, beefy hand and grabbed the back of MacGyver's neck, holding it fast so the American wouldn't be able to struggle as much. "I told you I would be seeing you," the Cuban said, his voice positively dripping with gloating.

"Congratulations. Apparently you can see the future," MacGyver responded drily. The man holding his neck squeezed a little harder, making Mac wince slightly as the nerves and muscles in his neck felt like they were being crushed. Ramirez chuckled.

"Still have that quick wit about you, huh?" he asked. MacGyver didn't answer; he just gave the drug lord a deadpanned stare. "And still just as talkative too," Ramirez added sarcastically. MacGyver smirked at him.

"How did you get out of prison?" Riley asked in disbelief. Ramirez look at her with distaste, remembering her as the girl who hit him with the tree branch. He walked towards her slowly, swinging his cane around almost absentmindedly.

"It's simply really; you need know the right people, apply the right amount of... _pressure,_ " he said, emphasizing the last word and giving Riley a look that made all three Americans uncomfortable.

"Hey," Jack called out, trying to get the drug lord's attention away from their youngest friend. Ramirez turned to face Jack.

"Don't think I've forgotten about you," Ramirez growled. He stared at the older man for another minute or so before moving his attention back to MacGyver. "But I'll get back to you two in a moment. Right now, Mr. MacGyver and I have so much to catch up on," he said. He grinned ferally at the young agent.

"Well that's just rude," Jack snarked, still trying to keep Ramirez away from his young partners.

"Shut up," Ramirez barked at Jack.

"Look," MacGyver said with a quiet, barely controlled rage before Jack could retort. "You have me; let Jack and Riley go," he insisted. Ramirez chuckled as he shook his head.

"I may have you, but I also have scores to settle with these two," he said, gesturing towards Mac's friends. "You aren't so selfish to think you'd be the only one I'd be paying attention to, are you?"

"Actually," Mac replied. "That's exactly what I was hoping for."

"Get used to disappointment," Ramirez shot back at the young man. He studied his three captives for a moment. "If you're so curious about my escape," Ramirez said as he walked back towards Riley. "I'm sure we can find coverage of it somewhere." He was handed a remote and he turned on the TV mounted on the wall. MacGyver felt his heart plummet as he saw what was on the screen. A section of the prison had completely collapsed, leaving behind rubble and debris. A reporter seemed to be live on-site.

" _Police are still unsure of how Julio Ramirez managed to escape maximum security prison late yesterday evening, but authorities assure us they are doing everything they can to bring Ramirez back. So far, there have been a dozen or so inmates and guards reported as injured; two are in critical condition. Unfortunately, three deaths have also been reported. Two security guards were found among the wreckage, and one inmate was rushed to the prison hospital, where he later succumbed to the injuries he sustained during the explosion. Aside from Ramirez, there is also a security guard named Richard Elcar and one other inmate, Guillermo Martinez who have been reported as missing. It is unclear at this time whether they were in on the escape, or if their bodies just haven't been recovered from the rubble yet."_

On the screen, two pictures were shown of the guard and the other inmate. MacGyver recognized them as two of the men who were currently guarding him, though they weren't the ones from the plane. He quirked an eyebrow at Ramirez. "Guess we know the answer to that riddle," he said. Ramirez grinned.

"Like I said, Mr. MacGyver," the drug lord replied. "You have to know the right people."

"And those three people that died, the dozen that are injured, you just...don't care?" Mac asked.

Ramirez shrugged. "I do what I have to do to get done what needs to be done. If people get in my way, or if they happen to be in the wrong place at the wrong time, who's fault is it really?"

"Yours," MacGyver said immediately and with a tone that said 'I am not in the mood for your philosophical nonsense.' Ramirez shrugged again, clearly not caring what the Americans thought about him.

"So why haven't you gone back to Cuba yet?" Jack asked.

"Oh I will," Ramirez assured him. "Soon. There are just a few things I need to take care of here first," he explained, giving a pointed stare to his captive guests.

"Ramirez," Mac said again, staring at the man with an intense look in his eyes. "Don't do this. I'm here, you have me; let Jack and Riley go!"

"You're not very good at listening, are you?" Ramirez asked, annoyance seeping through his voice slightly. "Your friends and I have some things to _discuss_ as well!"

"They haven't done _anything_!" Mac insisted. "I'm the one that ruined everything for you. I'm the one that got you arrested; I'm the one that stole the information from you in the first place!"

"Mac," Jack said in a warning voice. Mac recognized the tone Jack was using; it was only used when Jack was trying to tell MacGyver that he and Riley were big kids and could take care of themselves. Mac didn't care.

"Shut up, Jack," he muttered at his friend. He looked back at Ramirez. "Besides, I'm sure that our boss has noticed that we're missing, and I'm sure she's been notified that you've escaped. It's not going to take her long to connect the dots and figure out where we are, or at least who we're with" he said, rather convincingly. "She won't stop until she's found us, and-" he was cut off as Ramirez backhanded him.

"Quiet!" the drug lord roared. Ramirez glared at Mac for a moment more, but then let his usual suave mask cover his face again. "You know, it's funny," he said, nodding at one of his men. MacGyver tried to turn around and see where he was going, but the man holding him prevented him from seeing anything. He turned his attention back to Ramirez. "Last time, I couldn't get you to talk. Even just a few minutes ago, I mentioned that you were just as non-talkative as last time. Now though, I can't seem to get you to _Shut. Up._ "

As if on cue, the man Ramirez had nodded at earlier stepped in front of Mac, holding a rag and a roll of duct tape. Someone else grabbed Mac's hair to keep him from moving while another hand grabbed his jaw, yanking it open. Mac squirmed as much as he could as the dirty rag was shoved in his mouth, then secured in place with the silver tape. MacGyver grunted, shaking his head as soon as his hair was released, as well as working his jaw around to see if he could dislodge the gag at all.

Ramirez looked at the man holding MacGyver, and without a second of hesitation the young man was thrown to the ground, and he toppled to the rough cement floor with a massive _THUD_. He rolled on his back, wincing as he felt his fingers get slightly crushed underneath him. He tried backing away from the advancing drug lord, but having his hands tied made that rather difficult. An idea came to him as he felt the rough cement scraping his hands though, and he began backing up again, dragging the ropes along the floor.

"Where are you trying to go?" Ramirez asked with a laugh. "I still have your friends, and there's no way you can outrun my guards." The Cuban snapped his fingers and Mac saw something fly through the air. He backed up even faster, trying to get the ropes frayed even more when he realized the item that had been thrown to Ramirez was a cattle prod.

" _Come on, just a little longer!"_ he thought frantically as he watched the Cuban examine the rod and then walk casually towards the young man. His fingers scrabbled at the bindings, feeling the frayed edges. He tried tugging on them but he knew it wasn't chafed enough to come apart yet. He did notice the stinging sensation his fingers got when he touched the ropes though, and he knew his fingers were being rubbed raw on the cement.

He felt his back hit a wall, and his escape was suddenly stopped. He glanced around as he tried to find something to help him get out of the situation he had landed himself in. He began scooting sideways, trying to get away from Ramirez and his approaching cattle prod.

Mac could vaguely hear Jack and Riley shouting in the distance as he continued to evade the Cuban. He spared a quick look over to his friends, noticing that there were only the two guards holding Jack and Riley left in the room with them besides Ramirez.

Ramirez stared at MacGyver for a moment with cold, calculating eyes. Before anyone could react, the long object was jabbed into Mac's torso and the sound of electricity was heard through the room. Mac's body jerked back and he hit his head against the wall, making him see stars. He groaned as the pain lingered, even though the electricity had been removed from him. He smelled something smouldering and glanced down, barely registering the hole now in his shirt before the cattle prod was once again dug into his side. Mac tried yelling through the gag, but all that came out was a muffled moan. More burning smells indicated another hole in his shirt as Ramirez stepped a few steps back to stare at his captive.

"I'm gonna kill you!" MacGyver vaguely heard Jack yell. The yelling continued, but he chose to block out anything that didn't involve him getting out of the ropes binding his hands. He could feel droplets of sweat rolling down his face, back and arms, and he was itching to wipe them away.

"Just like old times, eh MacGyver?" Ramirez commented nonchalantly while examining the torture device in his hands. MacGyver could do nothing but glare at the man as the drug lord once again advanced towards him.

He finally felt the ropes snap just as Ramirez jabbed the cattle prod towards him a third time. Mac rolled, trying to avoid the electricity. He managed to escape most of it, but there was still a small yet painful jolt as the current connected with his arm. His left arm felt a little numb, but he was able to ignore it with just a small grunt of pain as he stood up and grabbed onto the cattle prod in one smooth motion. As soon as his right hand closed over the instrument, he yanked as hard as he could. His efforts were rewarded as the tool came away in his hands, and he squared off with Ramirez. As the two of them waited for the other to make a move, Mac reached up and pulled the tape off his mouth, then yanked the rag out, throwing the objects to the side without taking his eyes off the drug lord.

Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Riley and Jack fighting with the last two men in the room with them. Even though their hands were still bound behind their backs, they seemed to be holding their own, so Mac decided to pay more attention to the Cuban drug lord who was now suddenly swinging his cane directly at MacGyver's face.

 _ **Okay, so when I showed one of my sisters this chapter, she said that she thought Mac telling Ramirez to let the others go was OOC because they're all secret agents and are used to being in danger. This was my argument:**_

 _ **If it had been a regular mission, I can see Mac not trying to get them to let Riley and Jack go; however, since this is simply a revenge mission against Mac, he would feel terrible that Jack and Riley got caught in the middle, even if neither of them blamed him for it, meaning he would try anything to get them to be let go.**_

 _ **Thoughts? Do you guys think it was OOC? For any of them?**_

 _ **Also, for Thornton's part, I honestly don't know foreign policies, so I take creative license with what Thornton was told XD I also really have no idea how local police handle the drug cartels, so I basically watched some of my other shows and saw what they did with their drug cartel issues... :D**_

 _ **Let me know what you think!**_


	4. Chapter 4

_**Chapter 4! Longest chapter so far, I think! And maybe I didn't leave off on such a cliffhanger this chapter! ;}**_

 _ **So for some random reason, every day for the past few days I've been getting just drop-dead tired at the same time every day, and I did my editing of this chapter while in that phase, so if there are mistakes, blame that and let me know, I'll go in and fix them XD**_

 _ **Um, maybe some squeamish warnings near the middle/end of the chapter? I'm not super squeamish about stuff, so I never know how other people react... but you've been warned?**_

 _ **All translations are at the bottom of the chapter :)**_

 _ **Not mine.**_

Jack and Riley watched as MacGyver tried to convince Ramirez that the two of them were not a threat, struggling against the men holding them the entire time. When Mac's mouth was taped shut and he was thrown to the ground, Jack shouted phrases that would have made his mother ashamed, and Riley called their captors some very unladylike names. Neither of them cared, and both of them struggled even harder when the saw the Cuban advancing on their friend with a long, ominous-looking object in his hands.

The man holding Jack cuffed him over the back of the head, making the salt-and-pepper-haired American grunt in pain. Neither of them ceased their struggling though, and they could tell the men holding them were getting frustrated. The grip on Riley's arms tightened, almost to the point that she was unable to feel her arms.

They heard a " _BZZZT"_ and a groan of pain, making them glance over towards the drug lord and the young blond American.

"I'm gonna kill you!" Jack yelled in hatred, jerking his arms as hard as he could against the man holding him. The man was large though, larger than Jack, and he made sure to hold tight to his prisoner. "Do you hear me, Ramirez?" Jack continued as he watched his friend pant for breath. "You are a dead man!"

"Mac!" Riley yelled as they watched the cattle prod descend a second time, and they heard the pain in Mac's groan.

"Son of a…" Jack struggled even more against his guard, earning him a quick jab to the kidneys. The hit barely slowed Jack's struggles down, and Riley could tell that his guard was quickly losing his grip on the older American.

Suddenly, Mac's hands appeared, freed from behind his back. Instantly he was on his feet and lunging at Ramirez, grabbing at the item in the Cuban's hands. They heard another electrical buzz and heard a small grunt of pain coming from their friend, but that didn't seem to slow their friend down as MacGyver squared off with the drug lord, the cattle prod now in Mac's possession. They watched him discard the gag that had been placed over his mouth, and without another moment of hesitation, Jack brought his foot down hard on the foot of the man holding him. His guard yelped in pain, loosening his grip slightly, and Jack took the opportunity to throw himself into a front roll, making the man fly over his shoulder. Jack made sure to roll on his shoulder to avoid damaging his neck, seeing as how his hands were still bound behind his back. As soon as his captor was on the floor and Jack's roll was completed, Jack got to his feet and kicked the man who had been holding him in the stomach.

Riley took the opportunity of Mac's escape attempt to ram her head back into the nose of her guard, who howled in surprise and suffering. He let go of the young woman and brought his hands up to his now-bleeding nose instinctively. Riley lifted one foot off the ground, spinning and roundhouse kicking her guard in the chest.

"Been working on those martial arts, huh?" Jack yelled in approval from where he was fighting his captor. Out of the corner of her eye, Riley saw Jack have to duck out of the way of the guard, who was holding his arms out in an attempt to catch his escaped prisoner.

"Well, you mentioned it on the train in Germany, I thought it sounded like a pretty good thing to learn," she replied as her own guard came after her. He lunged at her, but at the last second she ducked, using the guard's own momentum to send him flying over her back. He crashed to the ground and before he could get back up, Riley's foot connected with his cheekbone, whipping his head to the side and rendering him unconscious.

Riley looked back to Jack and saw that he had been grabbed from behind by his monster of a guard, effectively trapping him. She had just started to run to them, hands still tied behind her, when a shot rang out and everyone froze.

 _0-0-0_

MacGyver ducked, narrowly avoiding the end of Ramirez's cane and swinging his recently-acquired cattle prod in an effort to parry and counter the drug lord's attacks.

Mac crouched as the cane was swung towards him again. As soon as he was out of the way of the walking aid, Mac lunged towards Ramirez, looking like he was aiming the cattle prod for the man's left side. When Ramirez moved to block that attack, MacGyver brought his foot up and dug it into the drug lord's right knee. Ramirez cried out in anger as he fell to one knee, his cane clattering out of reach. Before Mac could do anything else though, the Cuban pulled out a pistol and aimed it at the blond's head.

Mac's eyes widened in shock and surprise, but right before Ramirez pulled the trigger, Mac brought the cattle prod up with a great deal of force, hitting the gun so it was aimed upwards. When the gun discharged, the bullet tore through the metal pipe above the two of them, spraying them both with water. The spray was intense, and soon both of the men were soaked. MacGyver glanced down at their feet, noticing a puddle of water quickly forming around them. The ground behind Mac was still dry, so he quickly jumped back to the dry section of the cement and stuck the cattle prod in the water. He flipped the switch, and almost instantly Ramirez was on the ground, twitching and groaning from the massive shock he received.

Mac looked over to where his friends were, noticing that Jack had been pinned by a guard, but that was the only guard left to take out. Everyone had frozen and was staring in his direction. Riley seemed to recover from the surprise of the gunshot first, and she took advantage of it, kicking the man holding Jack in the back of the knees. Jack was released as the man grunted in surprise, beginning to turn and look towards Riley. Without a second thought, Jack spun around and crashed his forehead into the nose of the guard.

The guard dropped like a rock while Jack reeled back, a slightly dazed look on his face. Mac ran over to his friends and quickly untied their ropes before the three of them ran for the door. It was a solid metal door, but with the three of them pulling on it together, it slid open without much trouble.

"Jack we talked about head-butting people," Mac commented as they ran down the hallway. "What good does it do you to take someone out if you're going to make yourself so dizzy you can't fight anyone else?"

"Why do you think I always save it for the last man?" Jack shot back as they ran down the hall.

"Could we maybe argue about this another time?" Riley asked as Mac opened his mouth. "You know, a time when there isn't an angry drug lord chasing us?"

The two men silently agreed, and they continued to make their way towards any exit they could find. When they rounded a corner, they skidded to a halt as they came face-to-face with close to a dozen men, each heavily armed with automatic weapons. They turned around and started to dash the other direction, but more men poured out of a door from the side of the hallway.

MacGyver looked around them frantically, trying to find a way out. He turned back towards the way they came, right into an awaiting fist. He reeled back from the force of the punch, grabbing at his jaw.

"Hey!" he heard Jack yell. He looked over at his friends. Riley had been grabbed from behind by one of the men surrounding them, and she was fighting to get away. The only problem was that Riley was at least two times smaller than the man holding her, so even with the training and the martials arts she had been learning, Mac knew she wasn't getting away anytime soon. He started to move towards the pair, but before he had gone two steps, he saw Jack run at the man and ram his shoulder into the other man's side. The three of them tumbled to the ground in a heaping pile of limbs, but soon Jack fought his way to the top of the pile, punching and pulling as he grabbed at the man. After a few seconds, Jack finally managed to get Riley freed.

As Riley scrambled to her feet, Jack rolled over onto his back, dragging the Cuban guard with him so that the man was practically on top of Jack. One of Jack's elbows was hooked around the guard's neck while his free hand was locked around his wrist, securing the hold he had around the man's larynx. Both of his legs were wrapped around the other man's torso and waist, basically using the man as a human shield.

" _This would have been great and all, except for the fact that there were still about fifteen other men in the room with us, and there was only me and Riley against them. I needed to figure out a way to take out most, if not all of them at once before they could get to us."_

Mac took stock of what was around him. All he saw that would help him take out multiple assailants at once was a fire extinguisher sitting on the floor next to his left leg. With one hand he grabbed the can, while his other hand undid his belt. He pulled his belt out of the loops with a _FWAP_. He then proceeded to secure the belt to the neck of the fire extinguisher, tying the piece of leather like one would tie a sword-hilt to a belt.

"Riley, duck!" he instructed as he swung the improvised weapon over his head. The young woman immediately did as she was told, narrowly avoiding being beaned in the head. As Mac swung the weapon around, the aimed for the Cuban's wrists, smacking them hard enough that they dropped their guns.

While she was crouched down to the floor, Riley swung her legs out and around, catching a few more men by surprise and bringing them crashing down. Everything seemed to be moving in slow motion, but it really only took about twenty seconds for Mac and Riley to take out all but three of the remaining men. Each of them had backed away from the two Americans, and Jack was still on the floor, struggling with the large man he had taken down.

"Enough!" a sharp voice came from behind. Mac whirled around, his fire-extinguisher flail at the ready. Ramirez stalked towards them, hate in his eyes. MacGyver shifted himself so that he was in front of his friends. Riley turned and kept her back to Mac's, intent on keeping the other men away from them.

A grunt came behind them, and concern for his friend had MacGyver taking his eyes off the approaching Cuban to shoot a quick glance towards Jack. From what the young blond could tell, the man Jack was holding had managed to ram his elbow back into Jack's face. Jack spat a mouthful of blood out, but kept a tight hold on his captive. Mac was relieved to see the large man Jack was restraining was starting to go slightly purple in the face, and Mac knew that it wouldn't be long before that man was out.

Ramirez observed the situation before him: MacGyver and Riley had taken out almost a dozen guards on their own; he knew as soon as Jack got up, his other three men would be taken care of, leaving just him. He carefully weighed his options as he stayed out of reach of MacGyver's improvised weapon.

MacGyver watched as another man ran up to the group. The newcomer's eyes were bright, and he was breathing heavily.

"Sr. Ramírez, tenemos que irnos," he panted. "Acabamos de enterarnos acerca de un grupo de estadounidenses que se acercan a nosotros."

Ramirez glanced at MacGyver. "It would seem that your boss did indeed, as you say, ' _connect the dots,'_ " he sneered. He jerked his chin at his men. "Vamos," he ordered. Mac tensed a little as he heard the men moving behind him, but he didn't dare take his eyes off the drug lord.

"Mac," Riley said quietly. He backed up a little more so that they were closer together as the men Mac had whacked earlier started to recover from the beatings their hands had taken. They quickly gathered their fallen weapons and moved to form a circle around the small band of Americans.

MacGyver watched as Ramirez pulled out his gun and leveled it at the blond's face. "Put the weapon down," he ordered, a fake smile frozen on his face. Mac did the exact opposite, tightening his grip on the belt, not willing to relinquish the heavy item yet. Not giving a second warning, Ramirez shifted his gun slightly and pulled the trigger. Mac jumped as the loud noise echoed around them, but it was Riley's cry of pain that had him whirling to face her, dropping the fire extinguisher in the process. She had dropped to her knees, one hand clutching at the opposite arm, trying to stem the blood that was spreading across her shirt sleeve.

"Riley?" he asked, crouching down beside her. She had squeezed her eyes shut, gritting her teeth to keep from making any noise. A scuffle broke out behind them, and Mac heard Jack swearing as someone finally grabbed hold of him. Jack's recently-released prisoner stood up, massaging his neck and glaring at the older American. Jack was hauled to his feet, and when he was finally vertical, Ramirez barked out another order in Spanish. Two other men made their way to Jack and his captor, grabbing ahold of Jack as well.

Mac grunted as two men came to grab him and pulled him away from Riley. Each man grabbed an arm and forced them behind his back, pushing them a little higher than was comfortable, making Mac arch his back slightly to avoid having his shoulders pulled out of their sockets. Another man grabbed Riley and pulled her to her feet, ignoring her yelp of surprise and pain as they tugged on her wounded arm. Mac and Riley were carted towards the exit, but the men holding Jack stayed behind. Mac jerked himself around in anger and protest when he heard the next words out of Ramirez's mouth.

"Take him out back; no need to make it look like an accident. The local policía won't come out this way, so there's no reason to let something else take credit for our kill."

"No!" Mac yelled, yanking his arms and trying to get free. Jack and Riley were having close to the same reactions. Riley pulled against her captor, but he simply picked her up and strode out the door, ignoring her hits to his back.

Jack actually did manage to get one hand free, and as soon as he had the use of that arm, he employed it. He popped one of the men holding him in the jaw, and used his knee to hit the second one where it counts. After that, he was only left with one guard, and he whirled the man around in front of him as he saw Ramirez level his gun at Jack.

"You wouldn't shoot your own man, would you?" he asked as he used the guard as a human shield. Ramirez contemplated the situation briefly before shrugging.

"He's not one of my men," he replied coldly before pulling the trigger.

MacGyver watched in a sort of slow-motion horror film as the man Jack was using a shield fell. Another shot rang out and Jack fell to the ground, clutching at his stomach. Mac felt physically ill as he watched his own friend grabbing at his midsection to try and stop the bleeding. Time sped back up to normal and Mac renewed his efforts to get free.

"Jack!" MacGyver yelled, finally pulling himself free of his captors and rushing towards his fallen friend. He barely made it two steps before he was grabbed in a massive bear-hug from behind and literally lifted off his feet. He flailed his legs as he tried to fight, managing to kick one of the men in the face before someone grabbed his legs. Mac fought against the men holding him, twisting and turning to try and wiggle himself loose. He caught a glance of his friend, and he saw that his gray t-shirt was steadily turning a dark red color as the blood spread. Jack's face was white as a sheet, and Mac could see his already-shaking hands frantically searching for the source of the blood loss. "JACK!" MacGyver bellowed as he was hauled out the door, causing him to lose sight of his friend.

"Vamos a salir de aquí," Ramirez barked as he followed them. He gestured towards several cars. Mac saw men slip into each one, start them, and drive off. Another piece of tape was strapped across Mac's mouth as they neared the vehicle they would be leaving in. Mac heard noises coming from the trunk, noises that sounded very much like yelling and kicking, and he glared at Ramirez.

"Now now, Mr. MacGyver," Ramirez tutted. "If you behave yourself, your pretty friend won't be hurt. Her safety now lies in your hands," he said. Mac's glare hardened, and he was shoved into the car. Ramirez climbed in next to him but kept a gun pointed at Mac to keep him on the opposite side of the car. The driver clambered in and they took off.

The man holding Riley fished keys out of his pocket as he kept a tight hold on the girl. He pulled out a key fob and hit a button, popping the trunk of the car. He started to shove Riley towards it but she resisted, digging her heels into the ground and punching the man wherever she could, even though it killed her arm to do so.

She froze when she heard a shot go off. The distraction was enough time for the man to pick Riley up while she was looking back towards the building they had just come from. Her guard lifted her and tossed her in the trunk while she was distracted, shutting the trunk before she could scramble out.

" _Who fired the shot?"_ Riley thought frantically to herself. " _Who_ got _shot? Are Mac and Jack okay?"_ Despite how much of a hard time she gave Jack, she actually admired and respected him more than she had when they had first gotten her released.

Even though the car was large and spacious on the outside, and even the interior, the trunk was tiny, and Riley was starting to feel slightly claustrophobic. With the little wiggle room she had, she tried kicking the top of the trunk and yelling, hoping in vain that someone would hear her and get her out. Her elbow hit something hard, making her whole arm tingle. " _What was that?"_ she thought. Her fingers scrabbled over the offending object, and she realized it was a crowbar.

"Deep breath, Ri," she muttered to herself. She sucked in as deep a breath as she could, though not completely filling her lungs. Her breath hitched a little before she finally let it out in a slow and steady stream. She repeated that two or three more times, and had just started to calm down when she heard, or rather felt the doors to the car being opened and shut. She then heard the engine start, and the car moved forward. She clutched at her arm as she rolled with the momentum of the vehicle, rolling onto her injured limb. She bit her lip to keep from yelping as she tried to figure out her next move.

She looked around her surroundings in the dark as best she could, trying to find anything she could by the small speck of light blinking at her from the wiring in the car's taillight. Suddenly she had a thought. She had to feel around blindly, but her hands finally connected with a small panel at the back of the trunk and she pried it open.

" _See, most new cars nowadays have at least some form of tech running the system, meaning I can hack it, and this is a decently new car. If I can just get to the wiring behind this panel, I may be able to figure out something…"_

 ** _Okay so I may have lied a teensy bit about no cliffhanger... :D I'm sorry!_**

 ** _So that last bit there was obviously Riley talking, I figured it would basically be like the voiceover Mac does in the show, except obviously in Riley's voice. Not sure if it worked, but *shrug* what's done is done ;) Also, I know you probably can't access a car's tech side through the trunk, but I had to think of something, so for the time being, you can! ;)_**

 ** _Let me know what you think? Did it make sense? OOC? Too heartbreaking? Too cheesy? Too dramatic? ;) I'm sorry, I always ask those questions XD I need to stop XD_**

 _ **Sr. Ramírez, tenemos que irnos-Mr. Ramirez, we have to leave.**_

 _ **Acabamos de enterarnos acerca de un grupo de estadounidenses que se acercan a nosotros.-We just found out about a group of Americans approaching us.-Google Translate**_

 _ **Policía-police-Google Translate**_

 _ **vamos a salir de aquí-let's get out of here-Google Translate**_


	5. Chapter 5

_**Well...Hello all you lovely people... :D XD I'm sorry* for leaving you off on that nasty nasty cliffhanger last time... I'm glad you are all liking the story so much though! Makes my pain and writer's block while trying to write it worth it! You guys are awesome :)**_

 _ **As a slight warning, there is mentioning of blood in this chapter, so if you're squeamish about that kind of stuff, you've been warned I guess? It's pretty close to the beginning so you shouldn't have a hard time finding it :)**_

 _ **Onto the story! Translations are at the bottom :) (PS, I know next to nothing in Spanish, I literally get everything from google translate, so if I'm off, I'm sorry... The only other language I know is ASL, and it's kinda hard to write a visual language...)**_

 _ ***Am I though? ;)**_

 _ **Not mine**_

"Ma'am?"

Patricia looked in the backseat of the car at the agent who had spoken. "What is it, Agent Lewis?" she asked.

"I'm picking up some chatter on the radio," he explained, holding up his device. "I think Ramirez must have men at the border patrol. I just heard someone radio in that two cars full of Americans passed the border, and that they didn't seem like regular tourists," he finished. Thornton looked down at her map, realizing they still had a good ten-to-fifteen mile drive before they reached the compound. She looked at the driver.

"Punch it," she ordered.

"Yes ma'am." The car accelerated, and Thornton watched out the window as the scenery blurred past her, hoping their cover hadn't been blown.

The pain was excruciating. Not that being shot was ever a pleasant experience, but that didn't mean that it made the pain any less. Jack tried breathing through the white-hot pain lancing through his gut, but every time he moved or even took in a quasi-deep breath, it made him feel ten times worse. His hands shook as he tried to cover the wound. The blood loss was quickly sending him into shock, and he knew he had to get the situation under control before he completely lost himself.

He forced his eyes open and he looked down at his middle section. The entire bottom right half of his shirt was covered in crimson liquid, and it was still spreading. He glanced around in a slight daze. The only other body in the room with him was the one Ramirez had shot, and Jack could tell he was dead. The man had a button-down shirt on, but the buttons were unbuttoned, with a white-or what used to be white-undershirt on underneath. Jack knew he was close to the wall, and the dead cronie was also within arm's reach. He reached out a hand with slow, jerky movements and finally connected with the fabric of the shirt. He grimaced at the thought of what he had to do.

"Sorry buddy," he muttered as he pulled the shirt off towards him. It took some doing, and Jack was panting heavily with pain by the time he was done, but he was finally in possession of the fabric needed to use to help staunch the blood escaping from his stomach. Once he had the shirt, he twisted and turned, finagling himself so that he was sitting up against the wall. He tried to ignore the blood pooled on the ground, both his blood and the blood of the lackey who had been shot as well.

Jack balled up his recently-acquired article of clothing and pressed it against the wound in his stomach. He groaned with pain, but he stubbornly kept the covering over the wound.

Time was passing at a different rate for Jack, so he was actually unaware of how long he sat there against the wall, as well as how much time had passed since he had been shot and Mac and Riley had been dragged out of the building.

" _Mac and Riley."_ Jack's eyes shot open as his pain-addled brain finally pieced together that his two friends were in danger. Gritting his teeth against the pain he knew would be coming, he slowly pushed himself up on the wall, finally making it to his feet. He staggered towards the door, taking slow and painful steps.

As he was nearing the door, bracing himself against the wall so he didn't topple over, he heard the screeching of car brakes and the slamming of doors. He had barely registered those sounds when the large door was opened and six agents clad in black poured into the building, led by Patricia Thornton. She had her gun aimed in front of her, gazing around for any sign of the enemies, but her wandering eyes halted when they came to rest on her agent.

"Jack!" she exclaimed when she saw the man leaning against the wall. "Oh my word, Jack!" she repeated as she observed his pale complexion, the droplets of blood on the floor, and the blood-covered shirt he was holding. "Cover us," she ordered her agents. "Rogers, Evans," she said, pointing at two of the men who had come in with her. "Come help me with him," she directed. She slipped her gun into the waistband of her pants and hurried over to her wounded agent. "Jack?" she asked, grabbing his shoulders to support him as he started to slip down the wall.

"P'tty?" Jack slurred, his eyes roaming while he tried to find his boss. He finally focused on the woman in front of him. "Th'y took...took…"

"Jack?" Thornton asked, concern seeping through her voice. She looked at Agents Rogers and Evans. "Get him out of here," she ordered. "Get him help. He's lost too much blood already," she said as she looked down at the wound. Jack grabbed her wrist, making her look at him.

"Mac," he rasped. The dryness of Jack's voice made Patricia's throat hurt in sympathy.

"What about Mac? Where are he and Riley?" she asked. Jack opened his mouth to reply, but started coughing instead. The coughing fit racked his whole body, and you could tell Jack was hurting, but as soon as he was done coughing, he looked back up at his boss.

"Took 'em," he got out. "Th'y t'k...Mac 'nd Ri…" His voice slurred and he slumped forward, unable to support himself anymore.

"Get him out of here," Thornton repeated to the two agents holding him up. She looked at the remaining men around her. "You men," she said, indicating to the two men closest to her. "Spread out, do a quick sweep of the property; see if anything or anyone was left behind. The rest of you follow me," she ordered as she turned and walked out the door. "We can't let them get away."

 _0-0-0_

Ramirez finished wrapping the tape around Mac's wrists, securing him to the headrest in front of him. The drug lord watched as MacGyver futily pulled on the tape securing him to the seat. "From here we'll fly back to Cuba," he stated suddenly."I'm not finished with you yet, but I feel it would be better to get back to my own country; my playing field." MacGyver looked at him, unable to reply due to the duct tape across his mouth. "Your government may have frozen all of my assets, but how do you think I started out? I worked my way up from the unforgiving streets of my country, forming alliances all along the way. Many people are loyal to me, whether or not I have money. You see, Mr. MacGyver, when…"

" _If there's one thing I can't stand, it's a villain monologue. Why do the bad guys always feel the need to tell me their whole life story? Honestly, all I care about right now is finding a way to get Riley and I out of here and back to Jack. From what I could see of his wound, without medical treatment I would give him less than an hour before he bleeds out. We've only been travelling for ten minutes or less, so if I could somehow get Riley and I out of here before we get much further, we should be able to make it back to the compound before Jack's beyond all hope."_

Mac continued to tune Ramirez out as he slowly tried rubbing the duct tape binding his hands against the headrest bar. The passing scenery was dry; all the trees were basically dead, there was nothing green around. They were driving on an open road, with a little bit of space on either side of them. To their right there was a large mountain, but Mac knew that to the left of them was a drop off. There were guard rails, and he didn't know exactly how far down it _did_ drop, but didn't have any plans to find out.

He had only been trying to wear the tape down for two minutes or less before the car suddenly swayed, making Ramirez curse as he righted himself.

"¿Qué estás haciendo, idiota?" he snapped at the driver.

"¡No fui yo! No sé lo que está pasando!" the driver insisted. The car swerved once again, more violently this time, throwing MacGyver into the door and throwing Ramirez into MacGyver. Mac threw his shoulder into the drug lord's chest, forcing the man off him. Ramirez glared at the blond, but before either of them could do anything else, the car jerked to the right so hard that it spun out of control.

MacGyver was still pulling at the duct tape when the car's tire hit a massive pothole. Things probably would have been better had the driver not been flooring it and was actually in control of the car himself, but since he was flooring it, and someone else was controlling the steering, the car flipped over a time or two, finally coming to rest on its roof. The inside of the car was eerily still; smoke rose from the overturned vehicle, but there was no one on the road behind them to see what had happened.

MacGyver woke with a start, groaning as his sudden movement made every muscle in his body hurt. He looked around, slowly remembering what had happened.

The car was upside down. Ramirez and the driver were both passed out; the driver was belted into his seat and was hanging there, but Mac could still see the rise and fall of the man's chest. Ramirez was lying on the roof of the car, one arm on his chest, the other on the ground outside the broken window. Mac could also tell the drug lord was alive, and while he wasn't exactly happy that they still had to deal with them, he was glad that no one had died.

MacGyver himself was also on the roof of the car, except he was in a sitting position with his hands still annoyingly duct taped to the headrest, now above his head. He pulled on his wrists again, trying to ignore the aching in his shoulders as he did so. After one last hard tug, the tape tore apart and his arms flopped his his side. He quickly crawled out of the broken window on his side, trying his best to avoid the glass littering the road.

He finally stood up, closing his eyes as he tried to stop the world from spinning when he straightened too quickly. He heard banging coming from the rear of the car and hurried as fast as he could towards the trunk, placing a hand on the car to steady himself as another wave of dizziness washed over him. "Riley?" he called out as he reached the back of the car.

"Mac!" came the muffled reply. "Are you okay?"

"I'm fine. Are you hurt?"

"No more than a few bumps and bruises, and you know, my shot arm. Wanna jerry-rig a way to get me outta here?"

"I could...or I could just do this," he said vaguely. "Gimme a minute," he requested, walking towards the driver's door. He opened it, glancing at the driver briefly as he made a mental note to make sure he and Ramirez were secured soon before pushing the button to pop the trunk. He heard the trunk open, then a loud _THUD_ as Riley plopped to the ground. He hurried back over to her. "Sorry," he said. "Shoulda warned you I was popping it."

She shook her head. "I'm just glad to be out of that cramped space," she replied. Mac helped her stand up and the two of them moved away from the totalled car.

"Here," Mac said, ripping the bottom of his shirt into a strip wide enough to cover the bullet wound on Riley's arm. "It'll need to be looked at, but this should help slow the bleeding down a little," he explained. He wrapped it around her arm, tying a knot tightly once he had wound it as much as possible around her arm. "Sorry," he apologized as he saw her wince.

"No, it's fine," she assured him. "I would kill for some Ibuprofen or Advil right now though," she admitted. MacGyver looked at their surroundings and spotted something. He jogged over to the tree, Riley following behind. Mac picked up a rock from the ground and using the rock, he pried away part of the bark from the tree. He handed a small piece to Riley, stuffing the rest in his pocket.

"Stick it in your mouth," he explained as she gave him a look that clearly indicated she thought he was crazy. "Let it sit on your tongue for a minute to soften it up, then chew it," he directed. "Willow bark has a chemical called salicin, which is really close in chemical make-up to Aspirin. It should help with the pain a little."

Riley stuck the piece of bark in her mouth after examining it for a minute, pulling a face as her tastebuds were accosted with the new material. "Well, it definitely won't be winning any prizes regarding taste from me, but as long as it helps with the pain, I'm good," she stated. Mac chuckled, and as he looked down, he failed to see Riley's eyes widen when she looked behind him. "Mac!" Riley yelled at her friend.

MacGyver glanced behind him, but his reaction was too slow as Ramirez bowled into him. The young American toppled to the ground, hitting his head and dazing him a little. He tried to get up again, but Ramirez appeared above him. The Cuban pinned the young American down, placing the cane horizontally against his trachea. Mac grunted as pressure was applied to his throat, which was still sore from his earlier fight on the plane. His neck was screaming from the pressure and pain, and his throat felt like it was going to cave in on itself. Mac's vision was beginning to tunnel when all of a sudden there was a yell and the pressure was lifted.

MacGyver coughed and drew in a large gulp of air, both hands going up and rubbing his throat as he glanced around, trying to see where Ramirez had gone. He blinked the stars out of his eyes and finally found the Cuban. Riley, from the looks of it, had whacked Ramirez over the back with what looked like a crowbar, vaguely reminding MacGyver of the last time he had been held captive by the drug lord and Riley had knocked the man upside the head with a tree branch.

Things took a turn though as Ramirez recovered faster than either of them expected. With his cane, he knocked the crowbar out of Riley's grip, then swung the cane around again, connecting solidly with her injured arm. She backed out of the reach of the drug lord, grasping at her arm with a pained expression on her face. Mac saw her biting her bottom lip to keep herself from crying out. Satisfied that Riley was taken care of for the moment, Ramirez turned his attention back to MacGyver, who had begun running towards the two of them.

MacGyver was expecting the Cuban to turn his attention on him; what he wasn't expecting the Cuban to do was ram into him so hard that the two of them were flung over the guardrail by the side of the road. Mac hadn't realized how close to the edge they had been, and he desperately tried grabbing onto the metal rail, but they were over the edge before he could get a firm grip on anything.

He and Ramirez rolled down the steep embankment, hitting rocks and small boulders along the way before finally coming to a rest where it levelled out for a little ways, which was about twenty feet down the hill before it dropped again. Mac's head connected with a rock, knocking him unconscious faster than you could blink.

"Mac?!" Riley called out, her yells falling on unhearing ears. She stared down at the two unconscious forms, trying not to panic as she tried to figure out what to do. "Mac!"

 _ ***Hides behind bullet-proof glass* After all your reactions to my last chapter, I feel that this is a necessity XD**_

 _ **So uh...thoughts? :D I hope you know I love you all *Wide, cheesy grin***_

 _ **Oh, and about the willow bark, I just googled "natural pain remedies" and got willow bark as one of the results, so...Yeah XD If that's not true, blame google XD**_

 _ **Also, since we haven't really seen Jack or Riley seriously hurt, I'm not entirely sure how they would handle it, I wrote them how I thought they would react... Thoughts?**_

 _ **¿Qué estás haciendo, idiota?-what are you doing, you idiot?-google translate**_

 _ **¡No fui yo! No sé lo que está pasando!-Was not me! I do not know what is happening!**_


	6. Chapter 6

_**Okay, I'm putting this disclaimer out here right now: That episode messed with my head a little last night, and when I say a little I mean a lot, so I apologize in advance if the characters are a little rougher near the end.**_

 _ **More AN about the episode at the bottom. For now, enjoy!**_

When Mac's eyes opened and he became aware of his surroundings again, he wished he were passed out still. The pain radiating from his leg was almost unbearable; he glanced down at his right calf and had to lean his head against the hill, closing his eyes as he tried to stop the world from spinning when he was confronted with his injury.

"Mac?" he heard Riley call from above. He cracked his eyes open and stared up from where he had fallen from, seeing her upside down face peering over the guardrail. "Mac!" she exclaimed as she saw him staring up at her. "You're awake! I was really starting to get worried," she confessed. Mac didn't reply, as he was preoccupied with breathing through his pain. "Uh, Mac?" Riley asked. He looked back up at her.

"Yeah?" he finally called out, just loud enough for her to be able to hear.

"I'm pretty sure your leg isn't supposed to be bent like that," she pointed out. Mac let out a breathy chuckle, nodding his head.

"Yeah, I think you're right," he agreed. Suddenly he remembered that he hadn't fallen down alone, and his eyes darted around frantically as he tried to find Ramirez. His eyes finally landed on the drug lord, lying about five feet away from him. Mac relaxed slightly as he realized the Cuban was unconscious, his chest rising and falling slowly as he breathed.

"Mac, I'm coming down to you," Riley called out.

"No," Mac replied quickly. "No, there's no way that you can get me back up there, let alone get _both_ of us back up the hill," he insisted, jerking his chin towards the unconscious Cuban.

"What do you want me to do then?"

"Go find help. Get someone, something down here. See if you can get ahold of Thornton, let her know where we are. Most of all though," he added. "Make sure you get Jack taken care of!"

Riley felt her stomach drop. "Jack?" she asked. "What happened to Jack?"

"Ramirez shot him," Mac explained. Riley's mouth dropped open.

"He...he what?"

"Shot him," MacGyver repeated. Riley felt her hatred for the unconscious drug lord escalate to a level she didn't know existed. It was a good thing Mac was down there with Ramirez instead of her; she didn't know if she'd have been able to keep herself from doing something that would land her right back in prison. She focused on Mac's voice as he continued talking, distracting her from the red she was seeing. "Just...just get back to him quickly," he instructed.

"Got it," Riley said. Mac could hear the hesitancy in her voice, but he was just glad she was going to do it.

"One more thing," he called out. "Before you leave, I need you to toss down a few things."

"What do you need?"

"For starters, I need your belt and that crowbar you used to hit Ramirez with."

"'Kay, gimme a minute," she replied. A few seconds later, the crowbar was tossed down the hill with a belt wrapped around it. Mac reached his hand behind him, feeling around for the objects which had fallen near his back. His fingers finally closed around the metal object and he brought it around to the front.

"Do you see Ramirez's cane up there?" Mac called out. A few seconds went by as Riley looked around before finally calling out,

"No, I don't see it."

Mac looked around his own surroundings, finally spotting the cane on the opposite side of him, about three feet away. He rolled his eyes, knowing the pain that was coming his way was not going to be pleasant. He leaned over, his fingers just barely out of reach of the wooden stick. He grunted, seeing stars as he forced himself to reach just a little bit further. His fingers finally managed to grip the cane, and he sat up, leaning against the side of the cliff as he breathed through the pain. He finally managed to get the pain to an "almost-not-unbearable" level.

"Okay, I'll be back!" Riley called out.

"Hey Riley," Mac called out, the pain very apparent in his voice.

"Yeah?" she replied, sticking her head back over the side of the cliff again.

"Before you leave, I've got a last, kinda weird request."

"I'm afraid to ask what it is," she said, more to herself than anyone else.

"I need...your socks," MacGyver explained haltingly, his voice hitching as another wave of pain vibrated its way through his leg.

"My socks?" Riley asked in confusion. "I mean, I know my feet probably don't smell the greatest, but if you're wanting to wake Ramirez up, I don't think they're powerful enough to use as smelling salts. I don't know why you'd want to wake him up though," she said, trying to make her tone lighter to ease the tense situation the two of them had found themselves in. MacGyver chuckled, but was glad to see Riley sitting down and removing her shoes and socks, putting her shoes back on after she had tossed the balled up pair of socks down to him.

"Thanks," he replied as he separated them, glad to see they weren't ankle socks. "Hey, before you leave, make sure the driver of the car is restrained?" he requested.

"Okay, I can do that. Just...take it easy, okay?" she asked as she stood back up. "Don't try to do anything that you would normally do, like trying to climb back up here. You've basically got a compound fracture, Mac. Please be smart," she begged. "I'll be back as soon as I can with help," she promised. She turned and hurried away, and Mac gathered the materials around him.

" _Riley was exaggerating about the severity of my leg….slightly. I knew I needed to get it splinted, but I needed one more thing before I could do that successfully."_

Scooting his way over to the drug lord was a chore, and a painful one at that, but finally Mac reached the Cuban with as little movement of his legs as possible. Grabbing the socks Riley had thrown down, he stretched one of them out as long as it would go. He grasped Ramirez's hands as best he could in one hand while using the other hand to wind the piece of clothing as many times as he could around the Cuban's wrists before knotting it. He took the second sock and did it another time, making sure the drug lord's hands were tightly secured. He then leaned forward and removed his own left shoe and sock. He slowly made his way down towards Ramirez's feet and wrapped his single sock around the man's ankles. Once that was done, he removed the shoelace from his left shoe, as well as the shoelaces from Ramirez's boots. Wrapping those three shoelaces around his ankles helped secure the man's ankles a little more.

After double and triple checking the tightness of the bindings, Mac removed one last thing from Ramirez's unconscious form; the Cuban's belt. Scooching back towards where he had originally woken up, where he had left the crowbar and cane as well as Riley's belt, he rested back against the cliff once more. He wiped the drops of sweat off his forehead and pushed his hair back off his forehead as he reached for the cane.

" _In order to be able to splint my broken leg, I needed two, at least mostly straight objects, hence the crowbar and the cane. I also needed something that would be able to secure the two objects in place, thus the belts. Now, I could make this splint work with the cane the length it was, but it would be a little awkward. That, and the fact that breaking that cane in two pieces felt_ really _satisfying."_

Mac picked up the cane, examining it with distaste before raising it above his head and bashing it onto the ground, successfully breaking the walking aid into two pieces. After carefully manipulating the splint into position, he used the belts and secured the two objects in place around his broken calf.

After finally completing that task, MacGyver leaned back against the cliff once more. He felt his eyelids fluttering closed, but he forced them to stay open. He knew he needed to stay awake until Riley got back with help, especially if Ramirez woke up before help arrived. He shook his head violently when his eyes tried to shut themselves again, starting to go through anything he could recite to help keep him awake.

" _I hope backup gets here soon,"_ he thought as he began reciting anything he could think of having to do with Graham's number. " _I don't know how long I'll be able to keep myself focused or awake…"_

 _0-0-0_

Riley hated leaving Mac alone, but she knew that he was right. She would never be able to get him or Ramirez up the hill on her own, especially with Mac's leg. She hurried over to the car and got down on her hands and knees by the driver's door, peering in through the broken window.

The guard was hanging there by his seatbelt, fingers grazing the roof of the car. She glanced around her quickly and grabbed the largest piece of glass she could find and started sawing away at the base of the seat belt. The belt finally snapped and the driver crashed to the ground, eliciting a groan of pain from the man, but thankfully he remained unconscious. She quickly grabbed his hands and pulled them behind his back. She picked up the long strap that used to be a seat belt in the car and folded it in half widthwise before wrapping it around the wrists of the driver. She was able to wrap it around almost five times before she tied it in a nice little knot. She then hurried to the backseat and sawed off another seat belt, doing the same thing to the man's ankles. She grabbed a handkerchief from the pocket of the man's pants, stuffing it into his mouth so he would be unable to yell if he woke up before she was back.

She stood up, holding her arm close to her side as her recent activity made it ache even more. Staring down the road they had come from, she grimaced as she realized how far away from the compound they were, and she was now having to travel on foot. She grit her teeth together, then broke into a jog. She knew she had to get help soon, before Ramirez or his driver woke up. She didn't know how Mac was going to keep Ramirez from moving if he woke up, but she knew how she restrained the driver, and if he woke up before she got back, she wasn't sure how long her improv restraints would hold him.

She had been running towards the compound for a few minutes when she saw a plume of dust headed her way. She paused and stepped off to the side of the road, hiding just out of sight as she waited for the car to get closer. Finally it was close enough that Riley was able to make out U.S. license plates. She didn't know 100% that it wasn't Ramirez's men, but she was willing to take the chance just in case it was someone who would be able to help. She stepped out from her cover and waved her good arm, flagging the car down. Brakes squealed as the car veered towards her. She flinched as it got closer and closer; finally it came to a complete stop a few feet in front of her, and the doors burst open, the passengers spilling out. Riley let out a sigh of relief. "Thornton!"

Patricia and the two agents who were accompanying her to the car found some tire treads out front going east. "We go where these tracks lead," Thornton instructed. They all got in the car, and soon were driving down a dusty road.

They had been driving for just over five minutes when someone stepped out onto the side of the road.

"Pull over!" Thornton ordered. The SUV they were in jerked to the right as the driver hurried to follow orders. They came to a stop a foot or two away from the girl standing on the side of the road, and Thornton immediately opened her door.

"Thornton!" Riley said, relief flooding her voice. Thornton noticed the way the young woman was holding her arm to her side almost protectively, and she saw the bandage on her upper arm, a portion of it growing darker with each moment.

"Riley, what happened? Where's MacGyver and Ramirez?" Thornton asked.

"They're back this way," Riley explained as Thornton herded her towards the car. "I um, maybe managed to wreck the car, but Ramirez knocked himself and Mac over a cliff. They're both alive, but Mac's leg is pretty messed up," she finished. "What about...Did you find Jack?" she asked hesitantly, not sure if she wanted to hear the answer.

"Yes, we found him. I've got agents getting him the help he needs right now," Thornton assured Riley. "How far away is the wreck?"

"By car? Just another five minutes, straight ahead," Riley replied, pointing ahead of them.

"Punch it," Thornton said. The car took off towards the direction Riley had directed them, towards their downed agent and a drug lord.

MacGyver groaned, jerking himself a little as he realized he had dozed off momentarily again. He glanced at the drug lord, starting a little as he saw the man's eyes open and wandering. They're eyes met, and Ramirez's face hardened as he pulled at the restraints on his limbs.

"You don't really think these are going to hold me, do you?" the drug lord asked contemptuously.

"Maybe not forever, but at least long enough for help to get here," Mac replied, grateful that his voice had more confidence than he did in the sock-ropes.

"Ah, but who is the help going to be coming for?" Ramirez sneered. "Your people are outgunned, outmanned. Who will find us first?"

MacGyver didn't reply. Ramirez snorted.

"Besides," the drug lord continued. "It doesn't look like you're going anywhere anytime soon," he observed, nodding at the splint around Mac's leg. "And you'll pay for breaking my cane," he added angrily.

Their conversation was cut short as they heard tires rolling on the road above them, then come to a stop. Mac's heartbeat quickened, unsure of which side these newcomers were on. A tense moment passed, then MacGyver relaxed slightly as he heard Riley call out,

"Mac?"

"Right where you left us," he called back, tilting his head back so he could see the young woman. "That was fast," he commented as he saw her face appear.

"Yeah, well I ran into some people we know," she replied, and Thornton's face appeared next to hers.

"Just hold on," the director called out. "We'll get you up here soon."

MacGyver gave a thumbs up as he let his head rest back against the cliffside, smirking at Ramirez.

"Guess we know the answer to your question," he commented. Ramirez growled at him in Spanish, but MacGyver ignored him as two agents from the Phoenix rappelled their way down, using the guardrail as their anchor. They reached the two men and immediately moved to help stabilize Mac's leg more before the even attempted to get him into a harness. Mac could feel the color drain from his face as they accidentally jostled his leg, but he waved off their apologies.

After deciding his leg was as good as it was going to get, they strapped the young blond into one of the harnesses. They made sure to keep his back to the cliff wall so that his leg wouldn't hit the hard rock, and as he was pulled up at a painstakingly slow rate, MacGyver kept one of his hands pressed against the cliff as well, to keep himself from rotating side-to-side. After a few minutes of his back bumping up and down against the rock, he finally felt two pairs of hands grab his arms and shoulders and help ease him over the guardrail.

"Easy, easy," he heard Thornton say as he was lowered to the ground. He grunted as his leg made contact with a particularly hard clump of dirt, but he waved off the director and Riley, insisting that it wasn't too bad.

"I'm fine you guys," he insisted. Thornton raised her eyebrow as she noticed Mac's voice was a little higher than normal, and he avoided looking either of them in the eyes.

"Mac, you can't be serious," Riley exclaimed in annoyance. "Your leg is bent at an angle no leg should be bent at, and you say you're 'fine'?"

"It doesn't matter," Thornton interrupted as Mac opened his mouth to retort. "We called in some backup, an ambulance should be here any minute."

The three of them looked over as they heard grunting, then a few seconds later watched as Ramirez appeared behind the guardrail, accompanied by one of the Phoenix agents. The Cuban toppled to the ground as he was hoisted over the metal bars, and Thornton observed the restraints. She looked at Mac with raised eyebrows, a small smile playing around her lips. "Socks and shoelaces?" she asked. MacGyver shrugged.

"It worked, didn't it?" he asked. As the second agent made his way up the cliff, the sound of sirens blared in close proximity, and Ramirez's hands were released from behind his back only to be cuffed in the front immediately after. MacGyver turned and watched as a cop car approached, followed by an ambulance. Two officers stepped out of the car and strode towards the group.

"Director Thornton?" he asked as he held out his hand. His partner hurried over to the driver, making sure to restrain the unconscious man with handcuffs. Patricia accepted the offered hand.

"Officer Torres, I assume?"

"Yes ma'am," he replied. "I take it you were successful in recovering your men?"

"I happened upon this accident and helped these two up the cliff. I recognized this man," she said, gesturing to Ramirez. "As a man who recently escaped from a U.S. prison."

Torres nodded in understanding. "Ah yes," he replied. "Thank you for being so willing to help them," he said, giving the director a knowing look. She smiled at him, then stepped out of the way as two EMT's hurried between them with a gurney.

They carefully loaded MacGyver onto the wheeled bed, making sure to strap him in tightly before they began moving. They took two steps before they heard a shout of alarm from one of the agents.

"MacGyver!" they heard Ramirez yell. Everyone turned to look at the drug lord, surprise and shock in their faces as they saw him aiming a gun he had managed to grab from his guard's hip holster at MacGyver's chest.

Before anyone could react, a shot rang out, and a cry of pain pierced the air. Ramirez dropped the gun he was holding as he clutched as his now-bleeding shoulder, his cuffs making full-range of motion rather difficult. MacGyver's eyes were wide and he whipped his head around, trying to find where the shot had come from. He saw Patricia standing there with her gun aimed at the drug lord still, a calm, but somehow-still-furious look on her face.

"That's what happens when you go after my team," she hissed as she walked past him. She looked at the blond agent. "You alright?"

He looked at her, then the drug lord, then back to her, nodding his head. "Yeah, yeah I am," he finally replied. "Thanks."

"It's what I'm here for," she responded. "To make sure you guys are okay."

As she said that, Mac's eyes widened again. "Jack, he-"

Thornton held up her hand, cutting the young man off. "Is going to be fine," she assured him. "We got to the compound first. I had two agents take him and get him help," she explained. Mac felt the last bit of anxiety and tension drain from his body as he heard the news.

"Sir, if we could have you sit back?" one of the EMT's asked. MacGyver looked up at the man, then did as he was asked, leaning back on the gurney as it was loaded into the ambulance. They got an IV into his arm, and soon the pain in his leg was a simply a small distraction.

"We'll see you at the hospital," Thornton promised. MacGyver nodded, and the doors to the ambulance were closed.

As the pain medication continued to erase the pain he was feeling in his leg, he closed his eyes, finally allowing himself to drift off to sleep.

 _ **So...I may have gone overboard on Patty's OOC-ness, but I'm just trying to assure myself that everything is still the same, meaning I may have made her a bit more caring than people think she should be XD**_

 _ **Seeeee? I can be nice when I want to be! No cliffhanger this time! Tamuril2, you can put your bazooka away! :D**_

 _ **Okay. So the episode. I'm mad. I'm upset. But I am trying not to pass judgement until after they've given us a bit of an explanation for the events of last night. I just know that there's more to the story, so I am waiting to see what that is before I start getting more mad than I am.**_

 _ **I still hate Nikki, just as an aside.**_

 _ **Anyway, small rant over. What did you guys think?**_

 _ **Plus, if you want to talk about the episode, feel free to PM me and I'll be happy to dissect, discuss, or theorize with you about what's going to happen!**_


	7. Chapter 7

_**Okay! Since I love you guys and you've all been so nice in your reviews, I decided to post the last chapter of "The Moment You've Been Waiting For" today.**_

"You look terrible," Jack commented as he observed his friend and partner using his crutches to walk into the hospital room Jack was resting in. Mac scoffed.

"You're one to talk," he shot back. Jack shrugged, nodding towards the chair next to his hospital bed. MacGyver took the hint and hopped his way over to the chair, easing himself down and setting the crutches off to the side. "I heard you're the one who let Thornton know Riley and I weren't at the compound anymore," Mac commented after a minute.

"Yeah, honestly I don't remember a ton about what I did or said," Jack admitted. "But I'm sure I did. Seems like I'm always saving your butt, kid," he teased.

"Don't you always said that what you said your job is about?" Mac argued lightly. Jack inclined his head.

"That I do," he conceded. Jack looked up at his young friend, who was absentmindedly picking at a loose string on the chair he was sitting on. Mac's face had fallen into a grim mask, and Jack immediately knew what the young man was thinking. "Hey," he said. MacGyver looked up at him. "This wasn't your fault, kid," he insisted gently.

"Jack, how can you say that?" Mac asked. "You and Riley could have died! I mean, you almost _DID_ die!" he added, gesturing towards the bed Jack was in. "How can you say that this isn't my fault?"

"First of all, it's gonna take more than a bullet in my stomach to kill me," Jack insisted. "Second, we're your friends, Mac. You should know that when push comes to shove, we're always gonna be there for you, even if it means putting ourselves in danger, and do you want to know why?"

"I thought you just said it's because we're friends," Mac said, sounding slightly more like his own snarky self.

"Okay yeah, that's one reason. The other reason, though, is because you'd do the exact same thing for us," Jack explained. "You can't think that you're the only one who gets to sacrifice himself for his friends, do you?" Jack stared at his friend with one eyebrow cocked. MacGyver tried to hold his friend's stare defiantly for a moment before he finally broke eye contact with a sigh.

"No," he muttered.

"Good," Jack said, leaning back on his bed. "Glad we got that sorted out." After a few moments of silence, Jack spoke again. "So Thornton thought she could pull off looking like a regular tourist?" Jack asked with a chuckle. "If she were by herself, she may have been able to pull it off...maybe. But towing along six other agents was bound to look a little suspicious!"

MacGyver grinned as he thought about their boss trying to pull off looking like a regular tourist. "I think she'd do a pretty good job," he argued. "I mean, there is a reason she's director of the Foundation," he pointed out. "She's good at what she does."

"You have a good point, my friend," Jack conceded. "She came in earlier today," he added. "Let me know that they got the driver of your guys's getaway car to talk, and they were able to track down the rest of Ramirez's crew because of the intel he gave us."

"Yeah, she told me that too," Mac said. "She also told me that she made sure that Ramirez is being put in solitary," he added. "He's got double the guard, less privileges, and he's being put in an even more secure prison than the first one. He should be there for a long time."

A nurse name Margaret bustled in, making her way over to Jack's IV lines to make sure things were dispensing at the right time and the right amount. She turned around and looked at the young man in the chair.

"Aren't you supposed to be in bed too?" she asked, giving an evil one-eyed stare.

"Busted," Jack called out softly as the nurse marched over and held out Mac's crutches to him.

"Real mature, Jack," Mac shot back under his breath as he made his way to his feet and accepted the offered walking aids. He had just positioned them under his arms when Riley and Thornton walked into the hospital room.

"Can you give us a minute?" Thornton requested. The nurse didn't look extremely happy, but she wasn't going to be the one to tell Patricia Thornton no. She left the room, closing the door behind her. As soon as they were alone, Thornton turned to her team.

"I just wanted to say that I'm glad everyone is okay," she said.

"We wouldn't be that way if it weren't for you, Patty," Jack said. Mac and Riley agreed with their older partner's sentiments.

"We're a team," Thornton replied as she glanced around at everyone. "We work together, we watch each other's backs."

"See, Patty gets what I'm talkin' about!" Jack said triumphantly, looking at MacGyver with a smug look in his eye. MacGyver rolled his eyes at his friend's 'I told you so' attitude, but he nodded in defeat.

"Alright, alright," he said, chuckling slightly. "I get it. I need to stop blaming myself for what happened."

"Darn right you do," Jack muttered.

"Easier said than done though," Mac added in warning.

"Well, we'll be right here helping you realize that not everything is your fault," Jack replied. "Because we're a team."

"You're not gonna let that go, are you?" Mac asked with a sigh.

"Nope."

"I'm sure we can continue this conversation later," Thornton interrupted. "Mac, you look like you're about to fall over. Go back to bed," she ordered. She and MacGyver exited together while Riley stayed in the room with Jack.

"Hey Ri," Jack said when he saw her standing there. "How's the arm?"

She looked down at her arm, which was currently in a sling. "Well, it's been better," she said as she looked back to the older man. "How are you?" she asked after a moment of slightly awkward silence.

"Been better," he parroted her earlier comment with a wink. Riley rolled her eyes.

"Seriously, Jack," Riley said. "I'm glad you're okay. When Mac told me what had happened, I was worried we wouldn't get back to you in time," she admitted.

"I'm not going anywhere," Jack assured her. "If I died, who'd be around to educate you on your classic '80's films?"

"No," Riley stated. "That's not happening."

"Come on," Jack whined. "Why are you and Mac so against me educating you?"

"I'm not even going to dignify that question with an answer," Riley shot back. The two of them continued bickering, but it was a friendly bicker. Riley was just glad that everyone had gotten out of the whole situation alive, and arguing with Jack brought some sort of normalcy to their lives, which she felt like they all desperately needed.

"You doing okay?" Thornton asked as she and MacGyver made their way down the hallway.

"Yeah, the doctors say that I can go leave tomorrow. I think it's twenty-four hours too long, but Margaret kinda scares me, so I'm trying to keep on her good side," the blond admitted.

"That would probably be in your best interest," Thornton agreed. "I'm sorry I didn't get to you earlier," she added after a moment.

"It's not your fault," Mac said, glancing sideways at his boss. "You did the best you could, and I talked with Officer Torres; he said you were very intimidating on the phone when you tried to get him to give you permission to come into the country," he informed her with raised eyebrows.

"I don't know what he's talking about," Thornton replied, keeping her gaze forward. Mac was pretty sure he could see a small smile playing around her lips. "I was simply asking for permission to come into the country to get you guys," she explained.

"So you were being intimidating?" he teased lightly. She didn't respond, but Mac took that as a yes. "But seriously; thanks for being there, for coming to get us."

"Like I said. You guys are my team. We protect the people who are important to us."

" _Sure, the last few days have kind of sucked, but when you take a step back and look at everything around you, you start to notice all the good you have in your life. We all survived Ramirez, who is now locked away tighter than ever before. I've got Jack, Riley and Thornton who always have my back. Everyone was going to recover and be just fine; I guess at the end of the day, that's all that really matters."_

 _ **Aaaaaaand cut. It's a slightly abrupt ending, but honestly, I feel like I'm better at writing the hurt/angst part of H/C stories XD I struggled with the ending, so let me know what you guys think? Any ideas if you think it could have been better? Again, I don't know if they're OOC or not, so let me know!**_

 _ **I hope you all enjoyed the sequel to Left Behind, Not Forgotten, and that it lived up to expectations :)**_

 _ **So Tamuril2 gave me some writing prompts a looooong time ago, and I promised her the next story I posted would be from her prompt. I'm giving you guys all a heads up, it's a Person of Interest crossover, so if you don't know what POI is, you have a few options...**_

 _ **1) Watch the show because it's good ;)**_

 _ **2)PM me and I can give you the details you need to know in order to follow the story**_

 _ **3) Google is a wonderful tool, but beware spoilers!**_

 _ **4) If you don't want to do any of these, you can always read it if you want, or you don't have to read it. I won't be offended :)**_

 _ **I'm hoping to have it up within the next week or two, but with school starting up again I don't know what my schedule will bring :)**_

 _ **THANK YOU ALL SO MUCH FOR ALL THE SUPPORT YOU HAVE SHOWN ME! I love you all, you're all so kind and thoughtful, and are the reason I continue to post stories :)**_


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